A new Black Panther Wakanda Forever BTS video shows Lupita Nyong’o’s underwater training for sequences set in the underwater kingdom of Talokan.
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.Lupita Nyong’o reveals her training for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever‘s underwater sequences set in the underwater kingdom of Talokan in a newly released BTS video. Nyong’o reprised her role as former Wakandan agent Nakia in Ryan Coogler’s sequel to 2018’s Black Panther. The Marvel Cinematic Universe sequel sees Nakia, Shuri (Letitia Wright), Okoye (Danai Gurira), M’Baku (Winston Duke), and Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) grappling with the loss of Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa, while also facing growing tensions with global powers intent on claiming vibranium, as well as a potential conflict with Namor (Tenoch Huerta) and his kingdom of Talokan.
Through her Instagram account, Nyong’o shared a video recorded early in the production of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever that featured her training for the Black Panther sequel’s underwater Talokan sequences. In the video, the star trained for the sequels by diving into a pool and carrying weights while underwater, training that Nyong’o joked made her feel “like a crawfish“. Check out Nyong’o’s full video below:
How Black Panther 2’s Talokan Were Brought To Life
While the beautiful kingdom of Talokan was in part created through impressive digital visual effects work that brought Namor’s realm to life, there was still a great deal of work and consideration taken to build Black Panther: Wakanda Forever‘s new setting for its debut. As well as conducting extensive research into ancient Mayan culture with historians to create a kingdom faithful to its historic inspirations, the Talokanil people’s costumes received extensive underwater testing in order to see how they could function during filming. In order to ensure that the Talokanil costumes would function as they were envisioned underwater, costume designer Ruth E. Carter utilized various weights when designing the costume to ensure that they would work in the new filming environment, working alongside divers to test each costume’s durability and visual appearance when submerged underwater in a specialized tank.
Nakia’s MCU Future Explained
Despite previously heading Wakanda’s international outreach efforts, Nakia left the country following the events of Avengers: Infinity War after T’Challa and Shuri disappeared due to the Snap, with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever explaining her absence as her moving to Haiti and giving birth to her and T’Challa’s secret son, Toussaint. While T’Challa would reach out to her following his return, the two agreed that it would be best that the boy is raised away from the burdens of royalty, while preparing Toussaint was prepared for his father’s passing, making for a surprise reveal for Nakia to learn of her nephew.
Interestingly, Nakia’s depiction in the MCU has been largely different than that of her comic book counterpart, who proved more of an antagonist to T’Challa and the Black Panther. However, with Nakia proving more of an ally in the MCU and returning to continue raising her son, she could return to aid Wakanda against future crises, including Valentina Allegra de Fontaine’s (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) interests in ensuring the USA’s ownership of Vibranium, or guide him to taking over the Black Panther mantle, as his comic counterpart Azari did in the comics. While they wait to learn which path Marvel takes, audiences can catch up with Toussaint’s introduction with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever now in theaters.
Source: Lupita Nyong’o/Instagram
Key Release Dates
